Enforcing Custody and Visitation Orders in Texas

A custody order means little if one parent ignores it. When the other parent keeps refusing your weekends, holds a child past the end of a holiday, or moves the child without permission, Texas law gives you tools to make the order mean something. For New Braunfels parents, enforcement is usually filed in the Comal County or Guadalupe County court that signed the order. This page explains what counts as a violation, what the court can do, and how to build a case that a judge can act on.

Common Violations

Enforcement cases in Texas family courts often involve:

• denying scheduled weekends, Thursdays, holidays or summer time
• refusing to return the child at the end of a possession period
• not being at the exchange location, again and again
• moving the child outside a geographic restriction without a court order
• blocking phone or video contact the order requires
• withholding school or medical information from the other parent
• violating injunctions in the order, such as rules against disparaging the other parent or exposing the child to alcohol before exchanges

Violations can run both ways. A non-primary parent who refuses to return a child is just as subject to enforcement as a primary parent who refuses to hand one over.

What the Court Can Order

Enforcement of possession and access is governed generally by Chapter 157 of the Texas Family Code. Depending on the facts, a court may:

• hold the violating parent in contempt, which can bring fines, jail time or both, sometimes suspended on conditions
• order additional periods of possession to make up for time wrongfully denied
• require a bond or security to help ensure future compliance
• award attorney’s fees and costs to the parent who had to bring the case
• clarify an order that is too vague to enforce, and set a time for compliance
• order counseling or parenting classes in appropriate cases

Repeated or serious violations can also support a modification of conservatorship or the schedule. In extreme cases, taking or keeping a child in violation of a custody order can be a crime under Texas law, but that is handled by law enforcement and prosecutors, not by the family court.

The Specific-Order Problem

Contempt requires an order that is clear and specific enough to be enforced. Phrases like “reasonable visitation” or “as the parties agree” are hard to enforce, because there is no exact time the other parent was required to follow. If your order is vague, the court may first need to clarify it, and then enforce violations that happen after the clarification.

That is one reason a well-drafted Standard Possession Order matters. Precise dates, times and places make enforcement possible.

Building an Enforcement Case

Judges respond to specifics. Before you file, collect:

1. Your current order and any modifications.
2. A violation log with each date, time, place and what happened.
3. Proof you showed up, such as a gas receipt, a timestamped photo, phone location history or a witness.
4. Communications with the other parent, especially texts or co-parenting app messages that show requests and refusals.
5. Any police report numbers, if officers were called to document an exchange.

Tips for exchange day

• Arrive on time at the exact place the order states.
• Wait a reasonable period, and document your arrival and departure.
• Stay calm. Do not argue in front of the child.
• Send a short, polite message afterward noting what happened.

A record like this turns “he never lets me see my kids” into a list of dated violations a court can enforce.

What the Process Looks Like

An enforcement case generally starts with a motion for enforcement filed in the court with continuing jurisdiction. The other parent must be personally served with notice of the hearing, especially if contempt is requested, because jail is a possible consequence. A parent facing possible jail time has the right to a lawyer, and the court may appoint one if the parent cannot afford counsel.

At the hearing, the moving parent must prove the order and the violations. The responding parent may raise defenses, such as that the child was ill, the moving parent did not appear, or the violation was not willful. The court may also refer the parties to mediation.

Enforcement and Child Support Are Separate

Texas treats possession and child support as independent duties. A parent cannot keep the child from the other parent because support is unpaid, and a paying parent cannot stop support because visits are denied. Each issue has its own remedy. If support is the problem, see child support enforcement and arrears.

Enforcement for New Braunfels and Comal County Families

Our region’s geography creates some recurring enforcement issues:

• County lines. New Braunfels spans Comal and Guadalupe counties. Enforcement goes to the court that issued the order, which may not be the county you live in now.
• Long commutes. Parents working in San Antonio or Austin sometimes miss pickup times, which leads to disputes over forfeited periods. Clear order terms help.
• Moves within the growing region. A move to Kyle, Seguin or Boerne may or may not violate a geographic restriction, depending on its wording.

If a child has been taken out of state or hidden, act immediately. Courts have tools for emergency return, and some situations call for writs of attachment or habeas corpus to recover the child.

Preventing the Next Violation

Enforcement fixes past violations, but the bigger goal is to stop the next one. Practical ways to reduce repeat problems include:

• asking the court to add specific exchange locations, times and notice rules to the order
• requiring all communication through a co-parenting app, so there is a clear record
• moving exchanges to school or daycare whenever possible
• asking for make-up time to be scheduled on set dates rather than left to agreement

Our co-parenting guide offers ideas for lowering conflict between hearings. When violations are part of a pattern, the order itself may need to change through a modification, which can address the underlying problem rather than one missed weekend at a time.

Talk With a New Braunfels Family Lawyer

When the other parent ignores the order, you do not have to accept it. We help Comal County parents document violations, file enforcement motions and pursue make-up time and other relief. Call (830) 302-4071 for a free consultation by phone, video or in person. Hablamos español.

Last reviewed November 13, 2026. General information only, not legal advice.